A Morning Day, A Evening's Fog
by NinjagoZaneFan14
Summary: Klaus has been adjusting fine to the farm life since he married his wife. All has been at peace, but after a stressful morning misadventure and a mysterious letter in the mail, his world gets thrown upside down.


The sun had just risen over the mountain when Klaus woke up in his bed sheets and blanket around 6:00. He sighed in both a mixture of content and also tired grogginess and rolled over in his bed to see nothing. This didn't surprise him, as he had gotten used to his wife's morning routine since living here.

He sat up and moved the curtain of the window to look outside. The brightness of the daylight blinded him for a second until his eyes adjusted. He blinked for a moment then was able to focus on the outdoors.

The branches of the trees were moving in the wind, the crops in their fields were glimmering in the sun, and his beautiful wife was attending to her farm work. Her golden-blond hair was gently blowing in the wind and looked radiant in the rays of gold shining from above.

A smile pulled at the corner of Klaus' mouth. "Hm. She looks so lovely in this light," he murmured.

He had always admired her hard work and the labor she had put into it. Only picking her crops when the time was just right, when the tomatoes were the richest shade of red and the roses at their most magnificent.

And even the animals, she plainly held such love for them all dearly. And whether it be the cows or alpacas or even the chickens, they all seemed to have the same admiration for her back and they always appeared to appreciate the seemingly endless supply of treats she would save for when they felt sad.

The sheep would "baa" so contently when they were being sheared and the cows would "moo" happily when they were milked.

Even now looking outside, he was sure the cow was happy as it ran across the fields with his wife now on it's back screaming and they stampeded towards town.

Yes, his wife had skills that Klaus felt he would never possess. The animals never seemed to like him. Though maybe it is that Klaus never felt as comfortable around them as she did. Animals felt so unpredictable to Klaus, no one can tell them to do as their told and they were always so jumpy and enthusiastic.

He only felt comfortable around the horses. For they felt like equals to him, and their commanding presence only felt reassuring.

He had always loved them and once rode them quite frequently. Somewhere distant in his memory he remembered a few horses in the town where he had lived for the first years of his life. They had almost seemed like friends of his.

Maybe it was similar with his wife, he had never thought to ask.

Klaus sighed peacefully and returned the curtain to it's place then got out of bed, moving the blanket aside, determined to not sit there lollygagging and daydreaming when he himself had a lot of work to do in town. He decided not to wait for breakfast and decided to eat at Raeger's restaurant instead.

He got dressed and put on his long sage-green coat, combed his hair then spritzed himself with a perfume bottle.

Klaus sneezed then coughed. "Perhaps I put too much clove in this. I must remember to tone it down next time."

Once he was ready he walked down the stairs and then to the door. As he reached for the door it suddenly dawned on him what he had seen outside, his eyes widened and his face went slack.

Was that really his wife screaming on the back of one of their cows stampeding towards town?!

He swung the door open then went outside and closed it before rapidly looking around and finding his horse grazing in the paddock.

"Aristotle!" Klaus called out then opened the gate to the fence and went to his horse. "Quickly! I need your help."

The horse whinnied willingly and shook his head. Klaus frowned. He _hoped_ that meant it was in good spirits to help.

He carefully hopped onto it's back, luckily his wife had placed the proper saddle and bridle before he woken up, as she had usually done for a while now.

Klaus tugged on the reins of the bridle and urged the horse to start going in the direction the mad wife-kidnapping cow had went. "Go! Quickly Aristotle! He-yah!"

The horse bounded a bit more quickly than Klaus expected and he bounced forward in the saddle but quickly recovered as the horse galloped out of the paddock and into the fields downhill. Maybe horses weren't as predictable as he had been thinking they were but whatever the case, he was glad to be after them.

He silently prayed that nothing was wrong and that he would find his wife and the cow in perfect health.

But after a while of not seeing either of them, he had growing concern. What _if_ something had happened? What if she had fallen off of the cow or worse gotten bucked off and knocked her head? What if she was hurt? He would never forgive himself.

There was suddenly a piercing shriek in the short distance. Klaus looked around in a fright and slowed his horse.

If that was her, she was close by, he urged the horse forward and galloped towards the woods where he believed it came from. As he traveled the muddy road, he caught sight of someone sitting on the ground. His heart skipped a beat in worry as he grew closer, but it soon became clear that it was a young woman with dark brown hair and blue-green apron over a similarly-colored dress. She was rubbing her arm but did not appear more injured than that.

He slowed his horse to a halt, Klaus looked at her concerned. "Licorice? What happened?"

She looked up. "Oh, Klaus! A cow raced by and I was so frightened that I fell on the ground and knocked my arm."

Klaus bit his lip. "Tell me, did you happen to see anyone on this cow?"

Licorice blinked. "You mean it was one of yours'?"

"Yes, and I believe it was bringing my wife along for it's joy ride."

"I-I'm really not sure, Klaus, maybe there was someone on it's back. But I really only noticed that it was a cow."

Klaus looked around nervously. "Do you know where it went?"

Licorice nodded. "Towards town. I know that much."

"Will you be alright?" Klaus asked her.

"Yes, it's just a scrape. It's not a big deal."

"Well, when you get the chance you should still let Marian or Angela look at it." Klaus recommended.

"I will."

Klaus let his horse continue to walk forward onto the path. "Now if you will excuse me, I must find that cow and my wife."

"Of course! I hope everything's okay!"

Klaus nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Breaking into another gallop Klaus and his steed rode quickly towards the Oak Tree Town ahead.


End file.
